black and white – Page 14 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Southwest

Just before sunset . . .

The Next Valley After the Storm

This is a pano of 4-5 images I took with my phone when I went out chasing the sunset the other day. I found most of our walking areas closed because of the rains – muddy trails, swollen creeks – and so followed roads into the surrounding mountains. When I came to this view, I had to really think – where is this? It took a minute, but then I realized I was overlooking the Santa Rosa Valley (I live in the Conejo Valley), from a vantage point I had never seen.

Dark Tree

One thing that I am finding so useful about only doing black and white is contrast – white against black, shape against shape. I am not a particularly analytical person so it takes awhile for what I see to make intellectual sense, such as the visual evidence of light and dark working to create shapes.

Sycamore Trees

Sycamores are wonderful trees to tell you autumn is here! Their leaves, large and pointy, change with the season. In summer, they are green, and with the change in seasons, the leaves become gold and orange and brown, mottled in color, transparent and brilliant against the sunlight.

Next Year’s Hopes

These are the last of the Mira Sol peppers, waiting until they are ready to be harvested for seeds. I have never seen this pepper before, but we like it a lot, so we figured best to save some seeds for next year’s planting.